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The history of mobile broadband: Part 2 - gaining momentum

By the time Japan’s NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial 3G network in October 2001, most global operators were already convinced that mobile broadband would be the next big thing. The second film in our history of mobile broadband series sees senior ICT figures looking back as momentum builds from the end of the 1990s through the first rollouts of the early 2000s.

Participants reflect on how the understanding of the revenue-generation potential of 3G technology for telecom operators and internet entrepreneurs boosted support for the technology and resulted in a scramble for spectrum.

Some of those involved in the NTT DoCoMo 3G rollout talk about the groundbreaking achievement, while participants also recall their own early 3G experiences – most involving accessing e-mail via their mobile phone.

Old advertisements and promotional material from US operator AT&T and Ericsson show how the technology was being promoted as far back as 1993.

3G spectrum auctions were high on operators' agendas in the early 2000s. Mobile broadband had arrived.